finally rebraced my tank.

[cilyjr]

finally got around to cutting out the black center braces and installing new ones. the new braces are 1/4 inch clear acrylic sandwiched together making a 1/2 inch brace. i used 8 acrylic screws to hold it together. all in all it took about 1 and 1/2 hours to install and cost 15 bucks because i bought a scrap piece of acrylic that laiard plastics will have from time to time. i no longer see a V of shade from the lights.

 

[mbian112283]

Did you do while the tank was full? I really want to get replace mine. Just scared

 

[cilyjr]

Yes I did. I braced the tank with a bar clamp that was about 8 inches to the center from the brace I was going to cut. Then I put a container under the brace to catch as much plastic as I could. Then I cut with a small circ saw. I clamped in the new brace and drilled the holes. All this was after I glued the acrylic sheets with weldon 16 ( I glued the the other night).

I should state my tank is built in so I have a 2x4 running the length of the top of the tank. If it were to bow when I did it it would only bow on 1 side

 

[mbian112283]

Looks good! This is one of the things on the to do list next time I setup a tank.

 

[pbienkiewicz]

What type of screws did you use? Just wondering if they are going to rust. I would have used Weldon #16 instead. It will melts plastic to plastic. I have made sumps before using Weldon.

 

[cilyjr]

I've had issues with Weldon when fusing different types of plastic together. Some don't hold long term. I used 8 screws made of acrylic.

 

[cilyjr]

Got my new clear screens built for the tank it's 1/4 inch acrylic cut in 3/4 wide strips to prevent warping. Then the screen is glued to the frame